Article snippet: Posted at 9:02 pm on July 5, 2017 by streiff A mass tactical airborne drop is when an airborne unit jumps with full combat gear. That gear includes vehicles. Mass tacs are always something of a dicey affair. Back in 1982, gusting wind during a drop at Fort Irwin, CA, killed four paratroopers and injured over one hundred. But even when the weather isn’t trying to kill you, little things can become big things very quickly. If idiocy or malice are involved, the usual friction, to use the term in Clausewitz’s meaning, is compounded. Many years ago a parachute rigger at Fort Bragg thought it was fun to use nylon cord instead of twine to connect the parachute canopy apex to the deployment bag. Instead of the twine breaking and letting the jumper fall under an inflated chute, the nylon cord would not break and you’d have a paratrooper hauled through the air behind a C-130/C-141 until he could be retrieved. In April, 2016, the 173d Airborne Brigade was doing a mass tactical drop into the Hohenfels Training Area, Germany. Enjoy the video. Warning there is NSFW language involved. Each of those vehicles costs around a quarter million dollars, excluding what gear might be inside of them. If you pay attention you’ll see that the parachute rig doesn’t fail, the vehicles slide out of their rigging. It was through the grace of God that no one was killed. The Army has decided to charge someone as the stuckee for this disaster: As they say, “Once is an accident. Twice is a ... Link to the full article to read more